Target employees sue over alleged racist memo

Three Hispanic former employees of Target are suing the national retailer over an in-house memo of “Multi-Cultural Tips” that they say perpetuated ethnic stereotypes while trying to prevent them.

Courthouse News reports, the lawsuit alleges discrimination based on Target’s “Organization Effectiveness, Employee and Labor Relations Multi-Cultural Tips,” which included the following notes on Hispanic warehouse employees:

They may say ‘OK, OK’ and pretend to understand, when they do not, just to save face.

Target told the Huffington Post the memo was used only at one distribution center in Yolo County, Calif, and was never part of any official training curricula, but apologized for its distribution nonetheless.

“The content of the document referenced is not representative of who Target is,” Target spokeswoman Molly Snyder told HuffPo. “We strive at all times to be a place where our team and guests feel welcome, valued and respected.”

However, the lawsuit alleges the tip sheet was just part of a broader discrimination by the company against Hispanic workers.

The former employees – Robert Gonzales, Bulmaro Fabian and Pedro Garcia-Ayala – allege that management consisted almost entirely of white workers. Gonzales also alleges that when he complained to upper management about frequent use of racial slurs by supervisors, he and his two co-plaintiffs were fired in retaliation.